Lead contamination in shooting range soils and its phytoremediation in Pakistan: a greenhouse experiment

Abstract

This study investigated the lead (Pb) contamination levels in a military shooting range soil of Nowshera Cantonment, Pakistan. For this purpose, various soil samples were collected from the military shooting range and analyzed for Pb concentration using the atomic absorption spectrometry (Perkin Elmer 1100B, USA). Results demonstrated that soil Pb concentrations ranged from 1 to 193 mg/kg. Soil pollution index values revealed that 42% of sampling sites showed a higher level of pollution and exceeded the limits. The soil of the shooting range was classified into four types based on determined Pb concentration such as control/clean, agriculture soil threshold (50 mg/kg), this study means (62.5 mg/kg), and the highest level (193 mg/kg). The above four types of soils were used to evaluate the phytoremediation potential of indigenous plants like Chenopodium album L. and Cynodon dactylon L. in the greenhouse environment. Results showed that the highest level of Pb was accumulated in plant species exposed to the soil of maximum contamination. Moreover, among the studied plant species, the Cynodon dactylon L. did not exhibit any harmful effects with an increase in Pb contamination. Therefore, the studied plants could be used as a better remedial strategy in Pb-contaminated soils.